Dark Coffee
by Vibranch
Summary: Squall is just trying to work a normal job at the SeeD Cafe. But odd things have been happening lately. A flirty female customer sits inside the shop and yet somehow a woman with the same voice is trying to reach him through the store's telephone at the same time. And the conversations he with her has him to noticing more unusual things. [A Cafe AU that isn't actually an AU.]


Real summary that wouldn't fit in FFN character limit: Things are looking up for Squall Leonhart. He has a normal job, working for the normal SeeD Cafe, serving coffee to normal patrons, and is doing well at it.

But lately he's noticed things that aren't so normal. And while a flirty female customer isn't a normal part of the job, it also isn't necessarily a bad thing. But when he gets a call from another woman who sounds exactly like her, claims to be her, and is begging him to wake up, that becomes the catalyst as Squall begins to notice more things that don't make sense in his otherwise normal job.

* * *

The bell above the door chimed as a middle-aged woman stepped into the café. Squall Leonhart, working at the front by the register, vaguely recognize her for a moment. Her fiery red hair and striking green eyes struck him as immediately familiar, but not enough for him to recall her name before she told it to him.

Regardless if she was a regular or not, she quietly ordered her coffee and pastry from the counter and walked off to find a table without making much conversation.

Squall turned to look at the clock. It was nearing 11 and almost time for his break. Squall had found working in a café to be harder work than he would have thought, probably harder than most people might think, if he had to guess. So, the coming break from dealing with customers was a time he always looked forward to.

He turned back to face the register and let loose a quiet sigh, "Another busy day…" It certainly felt like one at least. He was exhausted, but he was still careful to not to be heard as he spoke to himself. As his boss had told him numerous times, customer service was paramount, and he had to be careful not to appear bothered by them publicly.

It was an instruction he was careful to apply. Public signs of enthusiasm were hard for Squall, so he instead chose to pretend he was never bothered by the customers.

Turning his head to look at the dining area of the small café, he noticed one girl in particular frequently stealing small glances towards him. He'd have to be blind not to notice. But he still had work to do and couldn't leave the register, not that he would if he could, so he pretended not to notice anyway.

She was cute. Long straight black hair with streaks of brown in it that matched her eyes cascaded down her back, and she wore a strikingly blue sleeveless sweater with a unique angel wing design on the back.

Squall was struck by a weird sense of Déjà Vu every time he looked her way. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen her before. _Probably just another repeat customer_, he told himself, but still the weird feeling remained.

"Hey, Squall!" The owner and boss, Cid Kramer, called out to him from the café's kitchen. "Are we running low on any pastries?"

Instantly, Squall realized just how focused he had been on that girl. He crouched low and examined the snacks in the display case as he tried to get her off his mind.

Everything looked to be accounted for. And with the heat lamps, nothing would need replacing for at least another couple of hours. He stood back up and walked towards the kitchen. "Looks like we're good for now." Squall said.

"Alright, let me know if that changes." Cid said, leaving the kitchen and moving to his office.

As Squall returned to the register, he saw the girl from earlier, now standing by the counter. He cleared his throat to catch her attention before speaking. "Sorry if I kept you waiting. Can I get you anything?"

"Oh, it's no problem." The girl said with a smile. She lifted an empty cup near her face. "I just wanted to get another before I go. Oh, and a croissant too, please."

Squall nodded as he asked through the usual questions about what she kind of coffee she wanted and explained how much it would cost. "And could I get a name for this order?" he asked at last, holding a pen to a disposable mug.

"Rinoa."

"Ri-no-ahh," Squall slowly sounded out as he wrote it down on the cup. "Like this?"

She giggled. "Yep, you spelled it perfectly! You wouldn't believe how many times I've been given cup with the name 'Rhino-uh' on it."

Squall turned around and began working on her coffee. He wondered what the odds were that he'd get the spelling right on the first try. He had to admit, her name was quite unique.

Eventually he shrugged his shoulders and stopped caring. It was just the way it naturally felt it should look to him, he must've gotten lucky. Squall looked over he his shoulder as he responded to her. "Well, I'll try to remember it so that never happens."

"You'd better, I'm gonna remember you said that!"

Squall couldn't help but crack a rare smile at her. "Well here's hoping I don't jinx it," he said as he handed her drink and croissant to her.

Her face seemed to brighten in front of him. "Thank you so much, uhh…" She paused for a moment in thought. "Squall, right?"

Squall shot a surprised eyebrow up. "Yeah, how did you-?"

"I heard someone call it out just before I told you my order," she explained. "I think it was your boss."

"Oh. I guess that would explain it." Squall scratched the back of his head. He felt a bit awkward for being caught so off-guard by such a simple explanation. "Anyway, I hope you enjoy your coffee and croissant.

"Hmm, I'll try…" She said coyly. Her eyes lingered on Squall for a moment before she quickly turned around and walked towards a table.

Squall watched Rinoa walk away. He told himself it was only because he had nowhere else to look. But even he didn't fully believe himself. Fortunately, the phone situated next to the register started to ring and pulled him away from these thoughts.

Squall cleared his throat once again as he gripped the phone. Taking calls had always been his most dreaded part of the job for some reason. Something about not being able to see the person and the threat of dead air was hard for him to deal with. But at least he had a scripted line to use whenever he answered the phone.

"This is the Botanical Garden's SeeD Café. Where a grande is the key to having a grand day. Would you like to place an order to pick up?"

The person on the other end was quiet for a moment. Maybe they were nervous about conversing over the phone too? Squall could only hope, at least they'd both be nervous then. A few moments later, it spoke in quiet anticipation. "Squall? It _is_ you, isn't it?"

Squall recognized the voice. Once again, he couldn't place why he recognized it. But it made sense that if the customer recognized him over the phone, then this time it _must_ have been a repeat customer. "Yes, this is Squall. Have you order from us before?"

"Squall it's me! Rinoa!"

Squall blinked at the statement. Now that this woman had mentioned it, she did sound a lot like Rinoa. In fact, aside from the little bit of distortion the phone provided, it sounded exactly like her! But that was impossible!

He looked over to Rinoa's table. She was still there, happily munching on her croissant. She noticed his eyes on her and gave him a goofy grin as she waved. Not wanting to be rude, Squall smiled and waved back before turning to face the wall.

He cupped one hand over his mouth as he answered the phone's voice. "Is this a prank call?" Squall finally said.

"A prank call? What do you mean?"

Squall squeezed the bridge of his nose. He was growing frustrated now. "What I mean is I just served you coffee. How are you doing this? Is this a recorded message or something?"

"If this was, how would I know that you just said you served me coffee? And what do you mean you served me coffee?"

Squall took another peek behind him, just to confirm Rinoa was still at her table. Sure enough, there she was, sipping from her coffee now.

Turning his attention back to the phone conversation, Squall whispered into the receiver. "I don't know. Maybe you recorded a lot of lines and have someone working with you to play them at the right time so they sound natural. And I'm not answering that second stupid question. I can see you in the store."

"Really? You can?"

Squall could barely contained a scoff. "Yes, of course I can! I'm not blind!"

He felt a tap on his shoulder. Apparently, he hadn't whispered quietly enough, as Cid Kramer opened his hand and gave him a look that wordlessly demanded Squall to give him the phone. A moment later, Squall did just that.

"Hello, thanking you for calling SeeD Café." Cid said diplomatically. "If you have any desire to place an order please call again later and do not bother the staff when you do so. Thank you." Cid placed the phone down on the receiver. Squall opened his mouth to try to explain, but Cid cut him off. "Squall, go take your break early. You clearly need it." He said the worlds gently, but Squall could see in his eyes that he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Yes sir, I'm sorry about that."

"Just go." Cid said. Squall couldn't sense any of the humor normally found in Cid's voice as he walked off.

FF8 FF8 FF8

Cid counted the money from the till at the end of the day. "Well, everything seems to be here," he said at last. "Good work today!"

"Whatever." Squall said, still a little embarrassed from the incident earlier in the day.

Cid laughed at his response. "That's great! Whatever!"

Squall didn't bother to respond at that. Cid's behavior sometimes confused him. Working here was just a job to Squall, and in his opinion, most places would probably have fired him for getting into an argument with a customer like that. Squall still considered himself lucky to have a job. "So am I free to go?" Squall asked.

"Hmm," Cid considered for a second, making sure there wasn't anything he was forgetting. "I think we got everything done. So yep, you're free to go!"

Squall breathed a sigh of relief. He moved for the door of the office, but just before he could wish Cid a goodnight and walk out, the telephone by the register rang again. Squall turned to look at Cid, wondering if he wanted him to just let it ring.

"Can you answer that for me?" he asked, "Just let them know we're closed and then you can leave."

"Sure," Squall said, walking out of Cid's small office.

The lone phone rang eerily in the dark empty store front. Squall was glad to pick up the phone, if only to make the ringing stop.

"Hello?" he asked, ready to explain to whoever was calling that the SeeD Café was closed now. But the voice on the other end of the line interrupted him.

"Squall? Please, don't hang up!" It was Rinoa's voice again!

"Who is this?!" Squall demanded, a little surprised at himself. He didn't think he would get so worked up over this Rinoa impersonator. "If this is a prank than you can just stop! Otherwise, if you want to place an order than I suggest calling when we aren't closed!"

"Squall you have to wake up! I'm contacting you through Ellone! Wherever you think you are, it's not real!"

"Just shut up! I'm not falling for this!" With that, Squall slammed the phone on to the receiver. For some reason he couldn't explain, he found himself breathing heavily.

"Squall…?" Cid's voice slowly trailed into earshot behind him. "Was that the prank caller again?"

Squall took a moment to calm himself down. "Sorry about that, yeah it was."

Cid emerged from his office and seemed to stare a hole straight through him. "I know prank calls are annoying and you're tired and want to go home. But you can't just lose it like that."

Squall stared at the floor. "Sorry…"

Cid sighed. "Remember that we're in the service industry. And how we act and react can be detrimental to how our business is viewed."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kramer."

"Reacting badly is what that caller wants. They might try calling again tomorrow when you're in front of actual customers."

"I said I'm sorry!" Squall instantly shrank into himself at his outburst.

Cid gave him a sad forgiving smile. "Alright, I hear you. Just try to grow from this, okay? And have a good night." Cid moved back into his office to finish whatever it was that he needed to finish.

Squall stood by the phone for a moment longer. "Good night, Mr. Kramer," he said just barely loud enough to be heard, then walked out the exit.

* * *

The bell above the door chimed as Squall stepped into the café.

Cid was working at the register and the first to notice him. A smile spread across his face as he greeted him. "Ah, right on time, Squall. Welcome in!"

"Anything you need me to do?"

"So professional, as usual," Cid said, "why don't you just watch the register for now."

Squall nodded before taking his place behind the register and helped people with their orders until a familiar face entered.

Rinoa made her way towards the register. Placing a finger on her chin as if in thought before speaking. "Squall, right?"

"Correct. And you're Rinoa."

"You remembered!"

Squall felt his face heat up. "Y-yeah…"

Rinoa gave him a playful smile. "Well, I'm gonna order what I got last time. Do you remember what that was, too?"

"No, I didn't memorize everything about you. Just your name."

She laughed, but it felt like she was laughing at some joke he told. "It was just a coffee with a croissant."

"Right. Well, your total came to 250 Gil last time if I remember correctly."

"That you are," Rinoa said, handing him the money. Knowing that she'd have to wait a few minutes before her order would be ready, Rinoa started looking for a table that she could wait at.

Squall suddenly realized the question he should have asked her. "Oh, wait!" he called out to her.

Fortunately, she hadn't gone far as she turned back to him. Rinoa's looked at him curiously.

"I, uh, this is going to sound dumb," Squall said, trying to control the stuttering that fought against his awkward question. "But did you call me, yesterday?"

"Huh? Did I call you?" She looked confused. "No, you never gave me your number. Wait a minute! Is this a sneaky way to ask for mine?"

Squall ignored her question. "No, I got a call from someone who I thought sounded like you and they had your name."

"Sorry, wasn't me." She said. A moment later a sly smile spread across her face. "Were you hoping it was?"

"Honestly, I'm glad it wasn't you. I didn't exactly react very professionally to the caller."

Rinoa gave him one last look, a raised eyebrow practically screamed at Squall that she hadn't heard him say no. "Hmm I wonder what you're like when you're not being professional." Then she turned and went to find a table without saying another word.

Squall let out a sigh once she was out of earshot. How did he feel about her? He wasn't sure. Did he like her? There was something about her presence that made him feel at ease. In the few times he'd talked to her, he let his guard down surprisingly easily. It felt almost like they'd known each other in the past. Or in a past life…

The phone next to the register rang, snapping Squall out of his thoughts. As he reached for the phone, Cid stepped out of his office, "I can take that," he spoke quickly.

Squall was about to say that it was fine and that he could do it, but stopped himself when he remembered how he'd reacted to taking a call the previous day. "Alright, sure," he relented, stepping to the side to allow Cid room.

"This is the Botanical Garden SeeD Café, where a grande is the start to every grand day. How can I help you?"

Squall watched quietly as Cid conversed with the person on the other end of the line.

"No, I'm sorry but he can't come to the phone, he's working right now. What? Who? There's nobody with that name working at this store." Cid's voice rose as clearly began growing frustrated with the call.

Squall strained his ears to hear what the person on the other end was saying. But all he could make out was a name that sound vaguely familiar to him, "Evanora".

Was this caller someone different than last time? Or were they trying to contact someone other than him now? Squall also couldn't rule out the possibility that this was a wrong number.

"Listen, if you don't have any business to make over the phone, then please do not waste our time." Cid then hung up the phone and gave Squall a toothy grin. "Hopefully that'll take care of them."

"Maybe," Squall nodded. "But they didn't listen the first two times they called. We can only hope they grow bored of calling us soon."

Cid thought to himself for a moment. "You might be right. Well, I can always turn the phone systems off for awhile. It's not like we get many orders over the phone anyway."

* * *

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. A bit dull to some, but Squall preferred it that way. Every now and then he would look over at the few guests sitting in dinning area. He noticed Rinoa occasionally striking up a conversation with the same red-haired green-eyed woman he'd served yesterday. Although the conversation didn't seem very lively and eventually when she got up to leave Rinoa did so without looking too sad about the farewell. As she made her way towards the door she stopped briefly to wave goodbye to Squall.

Before he knew it, the day was over and Cid gave him the okay to leave. Squall shrugged his shoulders as he pushed open the café's door and tried to relieve himself of the day's stresses.

The bell above the door chimed as the woman with red hair and green eyes entered the café for the third time in just as many days. She politely told Squall her order and walked back towards the same table Squall had seen her talking to Rinoa at the day before.

After some time, Squall returned to the register with the now readied cup of coffee. He took another look at the name he'd written on it before calling it out. _Evanora._

_Where have I heard that name?_ Squall thought to himself as Evanora walked away with the mug. It made the most sense to him that he learned it while serving her these past few days. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd heard it somewhere else too.

Suddenly, it came to him. The woman on the phone! The one that sounded like Rinoa! He'd just barely overheard her the other day, but he was certain he'd heard her say the name while Cid talked to her.

If only he'd listened harder! Or if he had just insisted to Cid that it would be fine for him to answer the phone. The curiosity of why the voice on the phone brought up this quiet customer weighed on Squall's mind surprisingly heavily.

Glancing at the phone still sitting by the register Squall sighed. _If only Cid hadn't unplugged the phoneline…_ He mentally complained. "Just my luck," he said to himself. The one time he wished the prank caller would call it was made impossible.

Unless Cid had replugged in the phone…

Now that Squall thought about it, Cid didn't say how long he'd have the phone turned off for. Maybe it was working now? It wasn't impossible.

Looking at the phone sitting by the register, Squall picked up the receiver and placed it next to his ear. No noise came from it. Not even the usual sound of an empty phone line.

"Guess Cid really did disconnect the phone system," he sighed disappointedly.

"Squall?'

Squall nearly dropped the phone. He looked back at Cid's office. The door to his office was closed. Slowly, Squall picked the receiver back up. "H-hello?"

"Squall, you're there! Thank goodness!" The voice sounded relieved that Squall could hear her. Squall, on the other hand, was not.

"H-how? How are you doing this?"

"I told you, We're using Ellone to contact you."

"No you can't. This phone isn't even plugged in."

"I'm not using a phone! Don't you remember Ellone? She's your sister!"

"I don't have a sister."

"Maybe not biologically, but she practically raised you. Squall, don't you remember the orphanage or the people from it?_ What about me?_"

"I have no idea who you are!" Squall said.

"I told you the first time I contacted you. It's Rinoa."

"That's not possible. Rinoa is sitting in the store right now." Squall said, his eyes darting once more to Rinoa's table.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes! _She!_ Is!" It took all of his effort to contain his voice.

The voice was silent. After a moment it spoke again. "I don't know what you think is Rinoa, but it's not me. It must be an illusion or something."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just come clean already? I'm not falling for whatever prank this is. You're not Rinoa, and you're not convincing me otherwise."

"Fine then!" The voice said in an annoyed, frustrated tone, but when it spoke again all the emotion melted away. Now it just sounded sad. "Just answer me one thing, and I'll leave you alone. Tell me about yourself. Anything… _please_."

"What's there to tell? I work in a coffee shop, the hours aren't great but it's not like I have an especially busy social life."

"No, anything but the coffee shop. What's your life outside it?"

Squall was silent for a moment. "I-I don't understand."

"Tell me one thing about your life outside this coffee shop."

Squall was back to being silent. He couldn't find words to describe himself. The longer he spent searching for words, the more his own silence started to scare himself.

"Just one thing." The soft desperate voice begged. "Please."

"Like what?" Squall said. It was the only thing he could think to say.

"Literally anything! You said you don't have much of a social life, but what do you do with the little bit you have?"

Squall couldn't think of an answer. He really was married to the job, he realized.

The voice on the other end grew frustrated by the prolonged silence. "Alright, fine. What's your bedroom look like, then? Do you walk to work or take a vehicle? How about weekends? Is there anything you like to do on your time off?

The barrage of questions hurt Squall's head to think about. He tried to remember what his bedroom looked like, but it came back blank to him. Same went for how he got to work. All he could remember was leaving the store the day before and next he would be entering for the start of his shift. He couldn't even recall how many days had passed since the weekend, much less what he would do with time off.

"Are you going to speak, or do I have to keep throwing ideas at you?! Do you know how to swim? Can you play an instrument? What if you got into a fight? Do you think you could take someone on?"

Squall tried to respond but he kept cutting himself off as his brain refused to give him answers. For every failed response the voice responded by giving him another round of questions.

"What kind of plants are in the Botanical Garden?"

"I-uhh, there might be a uhh…"

"Do you have any pets?"

"Probably, not- Or wait, no. I think I…"

"What do you think of the name Angelo?"

"It's, uhh, nice. I guess…?"

"If coffee is made with beans, why is the café called SeeD? Shouldn't it be called BeaN?"

Squall dropped the phone. It clanged to the floor with a loud enough thud that the people sitting in the café looked up from their drinks. Even Cid heard it and quickly stepped out of his office to see what was going on.

The phone receiver still played the voice on the other end. Squall could still make out the tiny voice. "Hello? Squall, hello? Are you still there?"

Slowly Squall reached down for the phone and placed it next to his mouth. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to call you back."

"Who are you talking to? The phone's not connected." Cid said. He walked towards Squall, but stopped in his tracks as Squall stared him down from the corner of his eye.

Seconds passed before Squall eventually found his voice. "I'm sorry, Cid. I can't work anymore today." He pulled off his apron and walked towards the door.

"Squall wait, your shifts not over yet!" He reached out for him but Squall kept walking. "At least wait until you'd normally go on break!"

Squall continued to ignore him. His mind was still spinning from the voice's stream of simple, yet unanswerable, questions. His hand finally gripped the door and pulled it open as he stepped outside.

Cid's voice shouted one last desperate cry at him just before he stepped out of the shop. "Squall, no!"

* * *

The bell above the door chimed as Squall stepped into the café. Cid, manning the counter, looked up at Squall and offered him a friendly, if not slightly confused, smile. "What brings you to work so late? Did you forget something?"

Now that Cid had mentioned it, it was really dark. Pitch black even. "I, uhh…" Squall stuttered. 'Uhh' was starting to become a catchphrase, he noticed. Then it hit him.

Squall turned around to face the closed door he'd come from.

_Hadn't he just left the store?_

He gave another look towards Cid. Considering the last time Squall had seen him, he was leaving the store while Cid yelled after him. He looked a lot more pleased to see him than Squall would have expected.

Instead of answering Cid, Squall marched back towards the door and swung the door wide open.

* * *

The bell above the door chimed as Squall stepped into the café. It seemed to be early afternoon now. Cid was situated by the register in a similar manner Squall remembered him making when he first walked out of the store.

"Squall, you're back. I-I-I mean, you're late." Cid looked flustered and panicked to find the right words.

"I am?" Squall asked. It was certainly later in the day than usual for Squall to arrive, but his head was in such a funk that he didn't really care. Squall looked around the room. The people trying to enjoy their drinks stared at him. It must have been a good day for business, it was looked like a full house.

But there was something about them that creeped him out. Squall felt the hairs on the back of his neck prick up as he looked at them. He recognized them all, but couldn't place their names. One wore a full cowboy get up, another had facial tattoo covering the left side of his face. There was brunette wearing a yellow dress and a woman with blonde hair and glasses that had the serious look of a teacher.

But that wasn't what unnerved him the most. It was the same crowd from when he'd walked out the door the first time. The exact same crowd, in the exact same places.

Squall slowly shuffled back to the door behind him. Cid spoke just as his hand gripped the handle.

"Oh, come on now. You just got here, don't leave already."

Squall froze as he squeezed the door's handle. "I'm not leaving," He said. For the first time since he'd gotten that first mysterious phone call, Squall could see with a clear headed feeling.

Even if that voice on the phone was wrong about what it had told him, there was still something weird going on. Squall still couldn't remember going home, going to bed, or getting ready for the next day. So how did he get here?

Squall threw open the café's door, but didn't immediately step outside. He just wanted to see what the outside looked like. For the life of him, Squall couldn't even remember what the outside of the store looked like. Much less when he started working here. It was like he'd been inside the store all his life, working the counter at the café was normal because that was how it had always been. He'd always been working at the café, he couldn't remember a time when he hadn't.

But now he wasn't so sure he could believe his own eyes. Standing on the other side of the door was Cid. Outside the café was the inside of the café. But there wasn't any light streaming through the curtains from the other side's café. No, it was dark in there. Or was it _out_ there?

Squall felt sick. "What's going on?" he said in a weak whimper.

The Cid behind Squall sighed as he shook his head. "Oh boy, you weren't supposed to notice this."

Squall spun around at the sound of this Cid's voice. "I said, what's going on?!"

Cid scratched the back of his head, "uhh, lets see… How best to put this?"

"You're just dreaming Squall, that's all!"

Squall spun around to the Cid standing in the other café behind him, Squall decided to call him the 'Night Cid'.

"It's all just a dream, you'll wake up soon and won't remember any of this!"

"This is… A dream?" Squall repeated. "The voice on the phone said something similar to that."

The Cid inside the other café looked alarmed. "Oh, it did? No, that part was real. Just this, with the two connected cafés, this is the dream." Night Cid started to laugh nervously to himself. "I mean, how are you supposed to leave a place whose only exit leads to the same place?"

Squall had to admit he had a point there. Afterall, he would've noticed earlier that he was trapped… _Right?_

The Cid now behind Squall, the 'Day Cid', began yelling at the other Cid. "Would you shut up?! You aren't making the situation any better, you idiot!"

"Who do you think you're calling an idiot?! Why don't you speak for yourself!"

"Trust me, I am! And not one of the words you chose to voice have been a good one."

"Oh, and you could've done better?"

The two Cids continued to bicker at each other. Squall found that his head began to pound again as he tried to wrap his head around this confusion. Surprisingly, it wasn't one of the Cid's winning the argument that got them to stop yelling at each other. Instead it was the mysterious patron, Evanora, who ended it.

"Silence. The both of you," she said as she gracefully stood up and glided across the floor towards Squall. "I apologize for their behavior. It's clear they can't keep a secret. I'll make sure they get a proper punishment."

With that, she gave a harsh glare to the Night Cid. A moment later he began to vanish from sight. All that remained from his existence was the fading echo of him screaming for mercy.

The remaining Cid checked his body for any signs of fading like the last one. When he was satisfied that he was still solid he began to speak. "Boy, good riddance to bad rubbish right? He should've known better than to say what he said." The Cid chuckled nervously to himself for a bit, but soon stopped as his body began to fade away in a similar fashion as the last. "Wait, hold on… You don't need to do this. I can still-"

Evanora turned to the stunned Squall and offered him an unsettling grin. "So, what do you think? Better without them, right?"

"Where did they go?" Squall asked, being careful to keep his distance.

"Where do stray thoughts go when you stop thinking about them?"

"I'm not interested in philosophy. What did you do to Cid?!"

Evanora ignored his question, choosing to instead look down on Squall with a sneer that caused a chill to run up his spine. "I'm curious, how would you explain what's been happening today? How do you escape a place where the only exit leads back to where you came."

Squall tensed as her eyes bore into him. But in a strange way, he also felt invisible by the way she seemed to look right through him. And for a minute he hoped he would, just to get away from her gaze.

"Come now Mr. Leader, I've been inside your head for a while now. I know for a fact you're not as quiet in there as you pretend to be."

"The voice on the phone…" Squall said, more to himself than to Evanora, "she said I needed to wake up." A horrible realization tied knots in his stomach. One that he should have realized so much sooner, but couldn't allow himself to believe. "Am I dreaming? Is this all a dream?"

Evanora let out a deep sigh. "I usually prefer my victims to not suspect anything. But the way things have been going, you were going to find out eventually."

Squall stared at the room surrounding him. It felt real to him. Although it would explain why the café was on both sides of the door. "How do I wake up then? Do I pinch myself?"

"I'd like to see you try," Evanora smirked at him.

A few painful winces later, it was clear that pinching wouldn't work.

"I didn't think you would honestly try!" Evanora said as she began to laugh. "Imagine my luck, to be able to see the legendary Commander of SeeD pinching himself _that _hard, all because I told him to!"

A mixture of embarrassment and frustration enveloped Squall. "What are you talking about? I'm just a guy who runs the register here."

Evanora rolled her eyes as she tossed her fiery hair behind one shoulder. "Why don't you ask the voice on the phone? You can apparently still talk to her through it." With one hand, she motioned towards the counter.

Squall eyed her wearily, taking tentative steps towards it, he waited for her to tell him what the catch was.

She raised an eyebrow at him, apparently surprised he hadn't taken her at her word. "Go on. Maybe when you're done you'll be a more interesting conversation partner."

Squall walked the rest of the way towards the phone before speaking awkwardly into it. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"Squall?! Yes, I'm here!"

"This is a weird thing to ask, but am I really asleep?"

The voice hesitated, "Yes, you are. We've tried waking you up ourselves, but there doesn't seem to be a way to undo the spell. Trust me I've been hitting you with Esunas for about a week.

Squall tried to think of a description to the familiar word, but it's meaning remained elusive to him. Still, he guessed, whatever an esuna was supposed to be, it was clearly something that was supposed to help him.

Squall's head felt like it was spinning again. He found the concept of being trapped in a dream disorienting, everything felt so real. "Could I ask you something else? What is the 'real world' like?" Squall asked. "I'm guessing I'm not manning a cash register out there."

"Well…" The voice mumbled, wondering where to start. "You're the Commander of SeeD, an independent military force. It was founded in order to defend the world against Sorceresses who use their powers to hurt others. It's actually how you got into this situation."

"It is?"

"Yeah, there's a village where every couple of decades somebody would fall into a never-ending sleep. At least it seemed that way. Because while nothing anybody did would wake them up, it wasn't _really_ a permanent sleep. It would usually take decades, but the person would eventually wake up on their own. Of course, that meant they would have very few friends and family remaining. And shortly after their awakening, another person would soon fall into a long slumber of their own. There were thousands of rumors about why this town was affected this way. There were many books written just to collect the rumors and theories surrounding the town. But most just chocked it up to coincidences and tragic accidents."

Squall felt a trickle of fear run up his spine. "But why me? What does this have to do with me?"

"Evanora chose you because you're the Commander of SeeD! An institution that finds Sorceresses who misuse their powers and brings them to justice. We approached her and in response she put you to sleep before junctioning herself to your mind."

Something about the word _junction_ sounded familiar to him. More than that, something about it felt important, but he couldn't place why.

"What else do you know about me? Something that could've answered the many questions you hurled at me earlier" Squall asked fearfully. He was almost willing to try forgetting everything he'd just learned and let himself ride out the next, who knows how long, working at a coffee shop in blissful ignorance. But the pounding in his chest told him that this Rinoa sound alike was important in more ways than just being able to contact him through a dream. "What am _I_ like?"

"Well, in your free time you like to play a card game called Triple Triad. You're also a pretty good dancer, but it takes some convincing before you're willing. Oh, and we're also… um…"

"Something else I should know?" Squall asked as the voice trailed off.

The voice sounded embarrassed. It stuttered and mumbled over itself as it tried to think of a way to say what it wanted to say. "Well… We're dating."

Squall's eyes widened. "Oh," Squall said, now finding himself feeling more self-conscious than he'd even felt during the dream. "I suppose screaming at you that one time probably wasn't a great idea."

The voice on the other end giggled. "I'll forgive you this time, but only if you promise me one thing."

"And that is?"

The voice, _Rinoa's voice_, Squall forced himself to acknowledge it, paused for a moment. "Promise me you'll find a way to wake up and come back to us. Talking to you is about all I can do, and I'm only able to do it because Ellone is here. So please, _please_, promise me you'll think of some way to wake up!"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Squall asked.

"I don't know… But you and I talked to the person Evanora had last hidden inside shortly before we found Evanora herself. And he said that it wasn't until he realized he was in a dream that he started to awaken."

Squall tried not to sound uncertain of the vague advice. "Evanora pretty much gave up on keeping the secret from me. So the sheer act of knowing I'm in a dream might not be enough."

"I know, but that's why you have to promise you'll find a way."

Despite the urgency in her voice, or how hopeless the situation felt, Squall smiled. "I promise."

Rinoa's voice sounded calmer now. "Okay," She accepted, "Then in the meantime, I'll be here waiting here. So, when you do finally wake up, I'll be right next to you."

"I'll see you then."

"I'll be looking forward to talking to you in person later."

Squall placed the receiver back down on the handle and turned to Evanora, "How do I wake up?"

Evanora ignored him, "Done with your conversation already?" she said. "Short but sweet, I suppose"

"Answer my question!" Squall said, "Why did you even let me talk to her in the first place?"

Evanora looked at him. She gave a slight smirk, but the true intent and emotions behind it were impossible to read. Did she find Squall demanding an answer from her amusing? Or was it just a façade covering up frustration from him already discovering all of this was a dream? Both seemed equally plausible.

"I let you have some final words with your Sorceress, that's all. Usually people don't realize they're in a dream so quickly." She shrugged noncommittally. "Comes with the territory, it's awfully hard to tell you're dreaming until you wake up."

Squall thought for a moment. "Since I can tell I'm dreaming, then I should have some control over it."

Evanora laughed. "Sorry, Commander. But this is my dream, you're just trapped in it with me. You can't control this any more than you can control which memories the Guardian Forces you depend on will erase."

That was another familiar word. _Guardian Force._ Its meaning was just as lost on him as _junction_ was when Rinoa had mentioned it over the phone. But Squall could feel the gears in his mind slowly turn as he tried to recall the word's meaning. Something intrinsically in his gut told him that they could be the key to getting out of here, he just needed to remember why that was.

"Some dream, why am I in a coffee shop of all places?" Squall said, scoffing at the room around him. He hoped the question would keep her busy while he tried to remind himself of the phrase's meaning.

Evanora smiled. "I thought you might like it. It's very routine, and there's lots of quiet downtime when customers aren't around. I even gave you a facsimile of Sorceress Rinoa. Maybe you could restart what you used to have. I might have hijacked your mind, but I'm not an ungracious guest." Her tone was mockingly playful as she brought up the girl from the phone. "I hope you appreciate all the work I put into making this. It's awfully difficult to create something completely original."

"Junction and Guardian Forces…" Squall whispered to himself, trying to recall what it meant. He silenced himself as soon as Evanora whipped her gaze back onto him. "So you junctioned yourself to me like a Guardian Force?"

Things were starting to click into place. Squall was certain he knew what _junctioning _and_ Guardian Forces_ were again. Guardian Forces were junctioned to his mind, just like Evanoara was now. The Guardian Forces got in the way of his memories, he could recall that, so maybe Evanora was in the same place in his mind?

"I had hoped you'd make for better conversation than this." Evanora complained, "Are you just going to stay silent for the rest of our time together? Because I've had some victims try that and it's never worked."

Squall looked up from his thoughts, "I've always been outwardly quiet, Evanora. I thought you already knew that? But I suppose I have a few more questions about this place, if you'll hear them out."

* * *

Squall kept her talking about various aspects of the dream she'd created. He payed just enough attention to come up with more questions about the café or give a dismissive opinion on it. Over time, the group of familiar faces that had at one point filled the café started to disappear. But for the most part Squall was more focused on finding a way out of the dream using the information he'd remembered.

"One last question," Squall said once Evanora had finished whatever tangent he'd set her off on. "You said this was your dream, but you're the one junctioned to my mind."

"True," Evanora said, leaning back in her chair. "Technically this is your dream, but I'm in complete control of it. If I wanted this place to be set on fire," Evanora snapped her fingers and the café erupted in to flames surrounding Squall. "I can make that happen. If I wanted to flood this place," with another snap of her fingers, the flames disappeared and water began filling the room. "I can do that too."

The water didn't stop rising. It rose to his knees, then his chest. It kept rising until it was at his neck. Squall gathered a lung full of air just before the water reached his face. The water continued to rise until the whole café was filled. Instinctively, Squall closed his eyes. Completely powerless, all he could do was wait until his lungs to give out.

But they never did.

Squall opened his eyes. He could feel himself pushing against the water with every movement he made, but the need to breathe never came. Against his better judgement, Squall even attempted to take in a shallow breath. He felt the water rush his mouth and move down his throat, and for a minute he began to panic. But the sensation of drowning never arrived. He could still breath just fine.

Evanora began to laugh, "Just a dream, remember?" She gave him a spiteful grin.

"Very cute." Squall said, barely able to contain the anger in his voice from being toyed with. "I hope you had fun, because I know how to get out of here."

"Oh, please tell me how you intend to do that. I'm at the edge of my seat." Evanora said, not looking the slightest bit threatened.

"You, just like Guardian Forces, junction yourself to people's minds. And despite claiming to be in complete control, people from my life keep appearing in this dream. I know Rinoa, I know _a_ Cid, even the large group of customers seemed strangely familiar. Likely because I knew them when I was awake. So bits of my real life are filtering into this dream."

Evanora waved a hand by her face, as if tossing the idea itself out. "I had to pull people from somewhere, your memories were just the easiest to pull from."

"You remind me of another Sorceress I faced awhile back. Her name was Ultimecia. Like you, she wanted to live forever. To accomplish this, she tried to compress time into one singular point where only she existed. I defeated her, with some help, but there was a strong possibility that we wouldn't make it back to our right time."

"So, you rolled the dice and won. Congratulations."

Squall shook his head. "No, I had to think of my friends as time decompressed. If I hadn't thought of them, and if they hadn't thought of me, I would have been lost. But our thoughts of each other is what grounded me in the right time and place."

"That's very nice, but this isn't Time Compression. You are trapped within a dream. It's going to take more than just nice thoughts of the past to escape."

"I'm not so sure it's that different," Squall said. "Because it seems to me that this dream has been breaking down from the start. Your Cids couldn't handle me breaking the role I was given. Even you dropped the charade to convince me that I was trapped and tried to get me to accept the dream as a permanent place I'd be trapped in.

Squall gripped the table cloth tightly in his hands as he stood up from the table. "But the nature of dreams is that they're messy and nonsensical and yet somehow feel indistinguishable from real life all at the same time. Rinoa and Ellone woke me up from the illusion of the dream. But I have to do the rest myself. You said you've junctioned yourself to my mind? But even the memories my Guardian Forces replaced could be retrieved with the right prodding from my friends."

Evanora coolly looked up at him from her chair. "You've said a lot of nice words, but words won't be enough to wake you up."

"Then let me make myself clear, Evanora. I'm getting out of here the same way I escaped Time Compression. I'm going to think of my friends. Every detail about them, every shared moment between us, _every_ positive or negative emotion I've felt towards them. Guardian Forces are hooked up to my memories, that makes it difficult to use them while thinking of the past. The same should hold true to you too!"

Evanora's smirk devolved into a cruel scowl. "Then just go ahead and try!" she growled. The water in the room flushed out of the café as she stood to her feet. "I'll enjoy watching you fail and fall into despair. And then, once you've accepted that you're trapped here, I'll be the one to decide when you awaken. And there isn't a thought in your head that can change that!"

* * *

Aside from his breathing, the beeping of the heart rate monitor was the only sound in the room.

Rinoa knew it was for the best that the machine stayed on. Dr. Kadowaki had said it was only being used in case there was any change in Squall's condition. But Rinoa couldn't help but wish it were gone.

The constant beeping left her painfully aware of every second that passed, and the time of silence between beeps left her in a constant state of anxious agony for the next one. She wanted to rip the machine from the wall and stay here with Squall. She could watch him far better than any machine could.

Hours ago, Evanora had slowly faded back into the room. Almost immediately, Rinoa had tackled her to the floor and forced an Odine bangle onto her wrist before calling in Zell to drag her to a holding cell.

She'd been so excited when Evanora had been forced out of the room. It meant Squall would awaken any minute now. But for an unknown reason, he still slept.

Had something gone wrong? Was it because Squall had tried to force himself to wake up? Maybe Evanora was the only one who could wake him up? Rinoa didn't know and thinking about only caused her more mental anguish.

Rinoa rested her head on Squall's chest and listened as a new noise made itself known to her. The beating of his heart sounded in time to the echoing beeps that filled the room. But this sound brought her a better sense of comfort than the machine did.

The machine was far too clinical. The noise was sterilized and artificial, not nearly human enough to give her the kind of comfort Squall provided. Even if it was just his heartbeat, even that could set her mind slightly more at ease. At least _that_ was still undeniably Squall, at least _that_ meant he was still somewhere in there.

Rinoa thought back to the events that lead to this situation. From arriving in that cursed town, to finding Evanora, to the moment where they very nearly forced the Odine Bangle onto Evanora, and the moment of pure dread when Rinoa could _sense_ that something was wrong. The look on Squall's face as a sudden exhaustion overcame him and he fell to his knees. His hands on his face as he tried his hardest to keep his eyes open.

Almost immediately after it had happened, Rinoa contacted Laguna and Ellone. She wasn't sure if it was possible for Ellone to contact Squall, but Squall had come close to talking to her through Ellone back when she'd nearly been lost in space and she was willing to try anything.

But reviewing everything that had happened only meant she kept finding things she could've done differently, things she _should _have done differently. It was twisting her up inside.

Rinoa lifted her head up and looked at Squall's face. He looked similar to how she'd found him during Time Compression. She was terrified when she'd found him then, and she was terrified now.

The last words she'd said to him through Ellone hadn't felt like they were enough. But there wasn't much she could do. Even with all of her powers, Ellone could only barely reach him. And Squall's mind still had to rationalize them to fit in the dream Evanora had conjured.

But they'd been at it for hours, neither one of them wanted to be the one to give up. But ultimately it was Ellone who was doing most of the work. She had exhausted herself trying to force a connection to Squall's mind and had to be carried out by the end of the last conversation Rinoa had managed with him.

Rinoa couldn't look at Squall anymore. It hurt too much. She closed her eyes as she reached out and held his hand. She hoped that somehow the physical contact would guide his way back into the waking world.

Her eyelids tightened as the weight of her emotion beared down on her. But she refused to cry, she was going to stay strong.

She felt something move! Instantly, she lifted her head and stared at Squall's hand. His body so still that she feared that it might have only been her imagination. She looked him over, praying that whatever she felt it wasn't her imagination.

Then he made his first verbal noise beyond breathing in two weeks! Sure, it was a groan, but it was real! She hadn't imagined it!

"Squall?! Please, open your eyes!" Rinoa said.

"R-Rinoa…?" Squall said. His tongue was dry and stiff as he tried to speak her name. He could barely open his eyes. He found that even this dark room was too bright for his eyes after being closed for two weeks.

"Yes, it's me!" Rinoa said, her hand tightening around his, hoping the physical presence would help prove that this was real. "You're awake! You're safe!"

"Sorry if I overslept…" His words came out slow and tired. His eyes were finally adjusting to the room and he could start to recognize Rinoa's face filling his blurred vision. All the memories that Evanora had held back from him came to him now all at once.

"Damn it, you had me really worried…" Rinoa couldn't hold back the tears anymore, "I'm so glad you're okay. I believed in you. I knew you'd wake up, but… but I… I couldn't help but worry."

"S-sorry." Despite her tears, Squall couldn't hide his weak smile as he looked at her. He wanted to brush her hair out of her face with his free hand and comfort her. Anything to let her know he was all right. But his arms felt like lead weights. "I'm really glad to see you again," he said

Rinoa smiled through her tears, "And it's good speaking with you again."

* * *

Author's Notes: Thank you for getting to the end of this! This one got a little weird, but hopefully you found it interesting. The inspiration for this came about when I saw a coffee shop au story pop up in the FF8 Fandom. Coffee shop au's aren't a thing I'm particularly interested in. But it did get me wondering what a coffee shop au by me would look like, and what if I tried to make it canon compliant? (or post game canon compliant?)

Hopefully I didn't sound dismissive of people who like to read or write coffee shop au's. It might not be for me, but you keep on rocking with 'em!


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